• Match reports for season 2007
• Match reports for season 2006
• Match reports for season 2005
• Match reports for season 2004
• Match reports for season 2003
• Match reports for season 2002
• Match reports for season 2001
• Match reports for season 2000

This page holds the match reports for all games completed so far this season. It is my intention to post a report for each game, at the same time as the result for the game. The current report will always be available in the latest section of the results page but will also be available here. Unless otherwise noted all match reports are written by your host and webmaster, Steve Pitts.

There are no internal links on this page. If you wish to read the content other than in reverse chronological order, which is how it is laid out here, then I suggest that you use the hyperlinks from the entries in the table on the season 2008 results page rather than accessing this page directly.

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[A full match report should appear here in due course, since Paul Little was persuaded to try and do a more timely job than Rako, Matt, Chris or Darrell have managed, but for the time being it is my intention to post a one paragraph summary of each game when I enter the scorecard data]

Summary: The omens were not good – a limited overs contest, late arrivals due to the vagaries of the M25 and a shortage of bowling resources – but this one ended up much closer than the previous two defeats. Badgers were asked to make first use of a typical recreation ground wicket at the Raynes Park Sports Ground and Pat was its first victim as the second over started with a wide that scuttled along the floor to the keeper followed by a snorter that lifted from just short of a length to take a glove and gift him only his second duck as a Badger and the first in nearly five years. This presaged another ‘failure’ from the top order with the third wicket going down in the twelfth over with just 31 on the board. Steve seemed determined to stop the rot, possibly a little too determined since he had amassed just four runs after fifteen overs, but good support from Matt Mann (35) and Guy Walker (27) created stands of 56 and 53 for the next two wickets and a change of bat at the drinks break saw Steve slowly awaken from his slumbers to finish unbeaten on 52 in a score of 160. The bowlers exerted considerable pressure on Morden’s top order and their innings followed a similar pattern, with Greggy and Allan Butt conceding just seven and nine runs respectively from their initial four over spells and the scoring rate barely getting above two. Despite the change bowlers breaking the second wicket partnership at 50 and taking a couple more scalps to boot the scoring rate crept up to the required four an over after 25 overs with the Badgers fielding growing increasingly ragged. With all of their middle order contributing quick runs and both of the openers coming in for some stick when reintroduced into the attack even a fine spell from Graham Ward (2 for 21 from seven overs) was not enough to stop the home side reaching the required total in the penultimate over.

Statistical Notes: Steve Pitts finally passed Brian Moore into third place in the all time run makers for the club (although Brian took a lot less time to get there), but Graham Ward only managed to inch five runs closer to his first thousand, still needing another fifteen. With Graham Davenport still poised eight runs away from the same milestone, the question still remains which of them will be the twenty-sixth Badger to reach the thousand, or will David Jones make a surprise appearance and pip them both to it??

When he came off the field at tea on Saturday Steve made the observation that his innings was the second most boring ever, and that fact is borne out by the statistics, at least in terms of opening batsmen carrying their bat. Since 1988 (the first season for which we have the full details in the database) there have been 45 instances of an opening batsman finishing not out in matches that were not abandoned, and his proportion of the final score (32.5%) is the second worst ever. Jeremy Clayton’s 42 out of 170 (24.7%) against Newchapel back in 1988 is the only innings that is worse, and that has the distinction of also being the only time that a Badger has carried their bat whilst all ten wickets fell at the other end. Strangely, Steve also has the best percentage – 80 of a winning total of 115 (69.6%) against Old Alleynians in 1989.

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[This report courtesy of Simon Fox]

For the second week running Badgers XI were all fit and willing at one o’clock, but no sign whatsoever of any opposition. Some debate ensued about Hon. Secretary’s organisational skills, until a lone Oxshott player appeared and explained the situation – he’d seen that the fixture was due to start at one, but knew nobody would turn up then, and arrived at his normal time. Once again, Patrick fully exonerated.

Mysteriously skipper Mark was not in the eleven, though he was clearly listed on the team sheet. Something about a mysterious holiday in Egypt leaping out and grabbing him…. So we were left in the more than able hands of vice-captain Patrick, with Chris Turner filling in at last minute for Mark. No contest, can I hear you mumbling?

Arrangement was in the air – Patrick won an arranged toss and elected to field, opening bowlers arranged ends amongst themselves, and the Pitts contingent attempted to arrange an extended tea. Ian Gregg and Allan Butt opened the bowling but unfortunately were not able to re-arrange any wickets! I guess it couldn’t go on.

Oxshott batted carefully for the first half of their innings, punishing the bad balls but otherwise just keeping the score ticking. Ian and Allan bowled tightly, their opening 18 overs conceding only 45 runs, but no wickets. There were a couple of tough chances – diving efforts at balls struck from the middle – which set us pondering whether we might be missing the skipper after all! A double bowling change brought on Darrell and Badgers debutant Graham Russell, who bowled at a lively pace and within five overs had hit the stumps twice, removing both of the well-settled openers.

The score moved from 95 for 2 off 27 overs to 150 for 2 off 40, still a respectable containment effort. Darrell had been replaced by Chris Turner, after spilling another very difficult chance caught & bowled, injuring the index finger on his right hand in the process. In a momentary lapse, Patrick called upon Simon Fox to complete the innings, and whilst there was immediate success with a sharp and somewhat incredulous caught and bowled, this brought to the wicket Oxshott’s #5 Benzies, who with the diminutive Harper proceeded to smite the ball to all corners, and lifted the score to 212 for 3 from 47 overs.

Best of the bowling was Graham (2 for 32 from nine overs) and Allan (0 for 24 from 8), but Ian deserved better than his 0 for 59 from 15, having suffered somewhat at the hands of Benzies (his opening spell was even better than Allan’s – 10 overs, 4 maidens, none for 24 – Statistical Ed.). Our reflection was that 212 was definitely gettable in the 90 minutes plus 20 overs we had for our innings – alas no extended tea!

We were about to discover the Harpers: our innings started briskly but we were soon in trouble as Steve Pitts, Simon Fox and Richard Ward all fell caught behind off Harper snr. Barry followed with one of his familiar trebles – first ball defended away for two, second ball eye-in for four and third ball middle stump upended for glory. Richard had looked in good touch for his 23, but at 48 for 4 we were in the mire. Patrick and Paul Little went about rebuilding the innings with uncustomary caution, against Ms. Jessie Jackson of Surrey Ladies Fillies (assuming that’s the feminine of Colts – sadly the reality seems to be rather more prosaic, since I cannot find any reference to fillies in relation to cricket in general, although there are a couple of women’s teams that have it as a nickname, and even the ECB regulations use Colts in relation to junior sections for women’s cricket – Clarification Ed.) and 11 year-old Harper jnr minor. Fear of ignominy is a powerful force! But it worked as they survived the onslaught intact, and were just about looking favourites – both batsmen set at 100 for 4 at the start of the last twenty.

Enter the fray Harper jnr major, who after a wayward first over induced Paul to play, in the words of the captain – a ‘horrible’ shot – straight to extra cover for a restrained 40. Ian’s innings was too brief to describe – suffice to say that Allan survived the hat-trick! Alas, however, not the dolly-drop next over as he was out stumped by half a pitch! Our last three bats did their best to keep Patrick in the game but Harper jnr major proved too much and we were all out for 152 in the 37^th over, with Patrick stranded on 55 not out. Harper snr returned 4 for 30, Harper jnr major 4 for 28 and Harper jnr minor 0 for 18 off 4.

On paper this may look like a fighting defeat, but we were definitely outplayed by the better team on the day. We can only reflect that our top order failed to deliver for the second week running.

View the scorecard of this game

[A full match report should appear here in due course, since Graham Ward volunteered to try and do a more timely job than Rako, Matt, Chris or Darrell have managed, but for the time being it is my intention to post a one paragraph summary of each game when I enter the scorecard data]

Summary: The winning streak came to an abrupt end in the lovely surroundings of the Reigate Priory ground, on a blameless wicket, with the Badgers failing to post a defensible score having been asked to bat first. Wickets tumbled from the first over of the innings and the scoring rate hovered around two an over. A watchful 32 from Pat, constructed from 67 deliveries, gave some hope of recovery but when he fell in uncharacteristic fashion – shimmying down the wicket and poking a tame return catch – the late middle order collapsed further and even Mark (22) and Graham Ward were unable to drag the total to respectability. Needing only 89 to win the Cavaliers rode their luck early on, despite a hostile spell from Mark Gordon – featuring a rib rattling for the local MP Crispin Blunt – and economical spells from Ian and Darrell, before cruising to an easy eight wicket win. We didn’t help ourselves, dropping opener Gomez (36 no.) twice from successive Greggy deliveries, but the home batsmen were better used to playing on such a good track, even leaving some of Mark’s short of a length balls to pass over the top of the stumps – a trick that most sensible Badgers would never even consider due to the vagaries of the wickets we normally play on, although Richard Ward did try it and was cleaned bowled for his pains.

Statistical Notes: looks like I put the mockers on everyone because both Graham Davenport and I made ducks (he faced one more ball than I did, but we managed just three between us), Greggy finished wicketless and Graham Ward only scored a third of the runs he needed to reach a thousand. Which Graham will get there first??

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A baking hot day on Ham Common and another solid Badgers performance that extends the winning streak to four games. The day started promisingly, with skipper Mark Gordon winning the toss for the first time in a fair while and choosing to field, but his luck had deserted him again by the second ball of the innings when a sharp chance to the slips only managed to bruise the end of Richard Ward’s little finger. Opener Zeeshan (30) was the recipient of that piece of good fortune, and it proved to be by no means his only moment of luck as he mixed several immaculate shots with a smattering of edges before becoming the second of Graham Ward’s four victims, courtesy of a sharp stumping.

Graham had bowled the other opener in his second over, which itself followed an expensive opening over that had featured a couple of full tosses, and once Zeeshan was removed settled down to the longest spell of his Badgers career. The second wicket had fallen with 38 on the board after seven and a half overs but thereafter the scoring rate slumped especially once Allan Butt replaced Mark and immediately found himself amongst the wickets thanks to a neat catch by Ben Valentine at deep mid on. Richard made up for his earlier miss by snaring a low catch at slip to give Allan his second, and two straight balls in succession just failed to bring a hat-trick despite the first of them castling one new batsman.

Graham continued to toil away at the other end and received further reward courtesy of a catch at the wicket and the first of Mark’s three, a simple affair in his usual short cover position. At this point the home side had slumped to 65 for 7 from the better part of 22 overs but there would be another twelve overs of toil before the eighth wicket would fall, as Graham gradually tired in the heat and Ben’s first spell for the club proved fruitless. Woolmore (40) and Inns (20), the protagonists in that eighth wicket stand of 56, were both fairly limited in their stroke making but both made good use of the sweep shot and by the time Darrell Pitts replaced Graham this had led Mark to position himself at backward square leg.

Darrell’s third ball was a leg stump full toss which Woolmore duly clouted square of the wicket only to watch in astonishment as Mark threw himself full length to his left and clung on to a low catch with his left hand. The innings then came to a swift conclusion on 141, with Mark finally snaffling a wicket having returned to bowl his leg breaks and then helping Darrell snare the final wicket with a more orthodox catch at backward square.

After an early blip, when Graham’s scoreless exit brought the first ever all Davenport opening stand to an abrupt end, the Badgers reply got off to a solid start with Barry clouting the ball to all parts in his usual style, scattering three big sixes and seven other boundaries amongst his 55 runs, and Paul Wilson offering increasingly assured support at the other end. The pair added 57 for the second wicket before Paul’s stumps were disturbed and when Barry fell to a good catch at long off the score had risen to 85 from just 16 overs. The second father and son partnership of the innings got off to a steady start but Steve Pitts became increasingly becalmed and he and Darrell traded singles before both eventually succumbed to straight ones in the over before the start of the last twenty.

Their stand of 41 had managed to take the Badgers within sixteen runs of victory however, and Richard Ward and Patrick Redding were able to bring up the target just two overs later. The visitor’s total included a worthy contribution from stalwart twelfth man Extras, whose 33 runs included the unusual combination of five off a no ball, five off a wide and three leg byes.

Statistical Notes: no major milestones were passed this week but several are looming between now and the end of the season – Graham Davenport remains just eight runs shy of his thousand for the club, Graham Ward is thirty short of the same mark and Steve Pitts now needs just twenty runs to pass Brian Moore for third highest run scorer in club history (although it looks like Mark will go past them both some time during the next calendar year). Steve also now needs six wicket keeper dismissals to bring up his three hundred, Allan Butt another thirteen wickets for a similar number and Ian Gregg twenty for his two hundred.

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[A full match report should appear here in due course, since Darrell agreed, after a certain amount of ribbing about the Job Seekers Allowance, to try and do a more timely job than Rako, Matt or Chris have managed]

Summary: A full complement of Badgers this week for our second ever visit to Ockham and with the weather warm and heavy a solid all around performance precipitated a welcome early finish. The early Ockham batsmen were all keen to give the ball a good whack and a balanced contest between their top order and Mark and Greggy ensued with honours pretty much even after twenty overs with the home side on 82 for 4 but with the dangerous looking opener Couchman castled by a beauty of an outswinger from Greggy. At this point there was a danger that Ockham would go on to make a big score, with number five P Randles (52) starting to boss the game. However, the introduction of Darrell Pitts as first change turned the game the visitor’s way as the batsmen struggled to cope with the lack of pace on the ball. Matt caught two steepling catches at long on, the latter eliminating the danger man, and the rest capitulated tamely either missing a straight one or giving catches to Pat at point (who probably had fewer toxins in his system than last week). The innings came to a close at 128 with Darrell taking a catch, to give his great-uncle Allan a wicket, and finishing with an impressive 5 for 31 from 6 overs. The Ward brothers gave the Badgers’ innings useful early impetus, although both rode their luck – Graham being dropped at the wicket and scoring a fair few runs through the slip cordon. They had added 69 for the second wicket when Graham was undone on 43 by the first ball of Hignett’s second over and Richard smeared across a straight one to end the same over. However, Darrell’s good day was topped off by three fours and he helped father Steve (35 no.) ease the Badgers to a six wicket win.

Statistical Notes: before we started our innings the Ward brothers were both aware of closing in on their personal landmark of a thousand runs for the club. Richard needed just twenty (but only knew that because I told him that’s what I thought he needed, and was able to confirm the fact after the game) whereas Graham reckoned that he needed 45 runs to get there. As it was, Richard made just enough to pass the milestone whilst Graham came up short of what he felt he required and by my reckoning he needs another thirty more to get there. Oh, and the eagle-eyed amongst those that played may notice that the individual scores for Darrell and I have changed. Whilst driving home Darrell expressed surprise that he’d been credited with four fours in his innings and upon reviewing the book we discovered that one of my boundaries had been credited to him, hence the change.

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[This report courtesy of Allan Butt]

Due to the vicissitudes of availability, holidays and last-minute unforeseen circumstances, the Badgers took on Morden Parish at Raynes Park Sports Ground on a warm and sunny but windy afternoon with only nine players.

Of those nine, Patrick Redding and four others had travelled back from Wales that morning, having spent the previous 36 hours celebrating Patrick’s forthcoming nuptials. Such dedication was reinforced by assurances that they had acted with considerable restraint on the Friday evening, bearing in mind the forthcoming drive and cricket match, and it has to be said that, on the whole, performances, if not appearances, supported those protestations.

Rumour has it that the opposition were looking for a limited overs match of 35 overs per side, but Badgers skipper Mark Gordon was able to persuade them, apparently for the first time in their albeit short history, to adopt the Badgers normal format of a timed match. This was just as well, since it saved the rest of the team from the reaction of Steve Pitts, whose well-known dislike of limited-overs games would not have improved his mood on arrival late having, on his birthday, spent the best part of two hours on the M25 on a journey which, two weeks earlier on a weekday, he had completed in 45 minutes.

Morden Parish won the toss, and after some debate amongst themselves, decided to bat first, possibly because they also started the game with only nine players, although their remaining players arrived during the course of their innings. In the absence of Steve at the start, Patrick donned the wicket-keeping gloves, having had some practice in the T20 game against Tadworth earlier in the week, although he did remark that, in that game, few balls had actually reached him!

Mark opened proceedings bowling down the slight slope with the wind behind his left shoulder, and proved to be virtually unplayable, his first six overs including five maidens and three wickets, all clean bowled, for just two runs. At the other end, Ian Gregg toiled away into the wind and up the slope with his usual accuracy, being awarded one LBW decision, and Morden Parish found themselves in trouble at 29 for 4. However, their opener Clarke stood firm, and started hitting the ball powerfully, taking advantage of the inevitable gaps in the field. Mark was replaced at the top end by Allan Butt, and soon after Patrick surrendered the gloves to Steve, although he may have regretted the change because, fielding at cover point, he put down Clarke twice in successive overs from Allan, who seems to have suffered rather more than others from catches dropped off his bowling this year. Chris Turner took over at the lower end, after an unbroken stint from Ian of 12 overs, 3 maidens, 37 runs for 1 wicket. Clarke was supported by Cilley, and together they put on a stand of 139 off 19 overs, Clarke eventually being bowled by Allan for 113, a maiden century which apparently overcame him so much that he took no further part in the match, leaving the ground at the tea break citing work commitments.

Cilley went on to score 52, and he and the lower order pushed the score to 211 for 7 at tea, by which time 40 overs had been bowled, and Graham Ward and Mark, in a second spell, had taken a further wicket each, Mark finishing with figures of 11-5-43-4. Badgers were not unduly despondent, recognising the difficulty of defending a large playing area with only seven fielders in addition to the bowler and wicketkeeper, and having established recently a history of successfully chasing totals of over 200.

Steve opened the Badgers innings with Simon Fox, and adopting his usual attitude of hitting the ball if it was there to be hit, was dropped twice in the opening over. However, Simon was first to go for 6, bowled by a ball which came back off the pitch, and having hit one glorious cover drive which obviously made his day! Steve went next, bowled for 15, and Ben Valentine was unlucky to be bowled for 7 by a ball which would have missed the wicket had he not deflected it with his foot. Badgers thus found themselves struggling at 42 for 3, and at 63 for 3 at the start of the last 20 overs still needed 149 at a rate of 7.4 per over. Patrick and Mark then embarked upon another of their rescue efforts, although having both been on a score of 28 at one stage, it was Mark who led the way, Patrick, possibly hampered by a knee injury aggravated whilst fielding, having reached 42 when Mark was out for 69, bowled by what Steve described as probably the best ball of the day. Yet another century stand by those two, of 116 this time, and the second in successive weeks, had reduced the rate required to 5.3 per over, and on this occasion Badgers avoided a late innings collapse, the Shark batting nicely for an unbeaten 27 in support of Patrick who ended unbeaten on 63, but who reckoned that his innings was typified by the fact that the winning run came from a bye and not his bat. Badgers had reached 212 for 4 with nearly two overs to spare, and Morden Parish had finished the match with only nine players, another of their number having found something more important to do mid-way through the Badgers innings.

An enjoyable game played in a good spirit, with Badgers indebted yet again to a man-of-the-match performance from their captain, but no catches for Mark this week, the single Badgers catch being taken by Steve behind the stumps.

The day concluded in somewhat bizarre fashion, after several Badgers had immersed themselves under the showers before realising that there was no hot water. After Graham had departed for yet another party in London, the remaining Badgers, sitting around a table in the Raynes Park Tavern, and being responsible citizens, were enjoying their third round, drinking orange and lemonade, apart from Allan who was enjoying a coffee, when they were harangued with liberal use of the F word, by a somewhat inebriated gentleman who could not understand why they should be sitting in a pub without an alcoholic drink between them!

Statistical Notes: three things worth noting about this game are that this is the first time since the Beechwood game in June 2005 (unless you count losing by ten wickets to Maori-Oxshott back in August 2006) that the Badgers have played a game without taking an outfield catch (in fact both sides were guilty of some very sloppy catching – Patrick both giving and receiving in that department whilst Steve was dropped twice in the first five balls of the game); that this is the ninth time in the past six years that we’ve scored 200 or more in a successful run chase whilst the previous 44 seasons had yielded just one such chase (it may be coincidence, although I think not, but Pat has featured heavily in seven of those nine games and didn’t play in the other two); and that Mark has now tied Alan Tickner by sharing in sixteen century partnerships for the club.

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[This report courtesy of Patrick Redding]

Another fine all-round display by captain Mark Gordon was the catalyst for an excellent 34 run victory for the Badgers against hosts Tadworth.

The captains agreed (Mark reluctantly!) that the contest should be forty overs per side, with a maximum of eight overs per bowler. However things didn’t start too well for the Black Caps who were asked to bat first on a difficult wicket where extravagant and unpredictable bounce proved a stern test for the batsmen throughout the match.

Tadworth’s young openers, Bellringer (2-12) and Button (1-21), bowled superbly for the first 16 overs of the Badgers innings. Some fine deliveries and Rakesh Dawar’s overambitious running (!) soon combined to leave the visitors reeling on 14 for 4. It was at this point that Mark joined vice-captain Patrick Redding at the crease and they proceeded to build a partnership to repair the early damage. Patrick was fortunate to be dropped at deep long on while still in single figures and this proved to be a costly miss for the home side.

The Tadworth change bowlers were not quite as accurate or penetrative as the openers and both Mark and Patrick grew in confidence as the board ticked over. Deep set fields allowed both batsmen to accumulate runs, with the pair improving on their calling and running between the wickets from the week before! The odd well placed boundary, including a top edged six by Mark over long leg, helped the innings to gradually gain momentum. The pair had put together an excellent fifth wicket partnership of 141 runs in 20 overs when first Mark (62) and then Patrick (85) fell, as they attempted to push the score up to 200. The inevitable late flurry of wickets saw the Badgers innings close on 192 for 9, with Simon Fox the only other batsmen to reach double figures. Considering the vagaries of the wicket Badgers were rightly pleased with their competitive score. Of particular note during the innings were the four catches taken by the same Tadworth fielder at deep long on – a serious case of déjà vu for the small smattering of people watching the game!

After a very pleasant tea, which as well as the usual cakes and sandwiches featured a good selection of fruit, Tadworth set about their task of chasing down the Badgers score. Although the wicket was still playing a few tricks the Tadworth openers Davsion (38) and Robinson (37) successfully negotiated the opening spells of Alan Butt (0-29) and Darrell Pitts (0-28) – although the bowlers weren’t helped by a couple of dropped catches by their team-mates! The opening partnership was finally broken when Mark produced a superb delivery to bowl Davsion, but Tadworth were still well placed when the last twenty overs began with their score on 73 for 1.

Momentum switched back to the Badgers thanks to some inspired fielding by Sahil Dawar who scored a direct hit to run out the Tadworth twelfth man, who was batting at number three. (Perhaps we’ll leave the question of whether he should have been permitted to bat without the permission of the Badgers’ captain to another day?!) Not to be outdone by Sahil’s great work, Mark himself swooped to run out two more Tadworth batsmen, including the promising Bellringer. The remaining Badgers’ bowlers Ian Gregg (1-25), Sahil (3-26) and Graham Ward (1-30) tightened the screws and a succession of Tadworth batsmen succumbed as the innings fell away.

A last wicket partnership gave the Tadworth innings a look of respectability but to be honest they were out of the game with more than seven overs to go. It was fitting that Mark (2-17) ending proceedings, stretching high above his head to take a well judged caught and bowled, leaving the home side all out for 158 in the 39th over.

As a final note, it has become commonplace for the Badgers to be in awe of Mark’s amazing deeds on the cricket field but just in case he ever did get an inflated opinion of himself, rest assured that his children would soon bring him back down to earth. Never has this been better illustrated than during this game, shortly after Mark had executed one of his superb run outs. The Badgers were gathered in their usual jovial huddle waiting for the next man in, when they became aware that Mark’s children Jake and Amy were running towards their father. Mark (together with the rest of the team) probably anticipated that they wanted to congratulate him on his heroic deeds. Much to Mark’s surprise Jake and Amy proceeded to run straight passed him to talk to his cousin Ben Valentine instead. Mark looked suitably crestfallen as his children, having relayed their message to Ben, ran off with hardly a word to their father. His team-mates, ever supportive of their skipper, collapsed into fits of laughter!

Notes:

• Patrick Redding passed 3000 runs for the Badgers
• The 5th wicket partnership of 141 runs between Mark and Patrick is the second highest 5th wicket partnership in Badgers history (Mark and Simon Clementson hold the record of 149 – set at Seven Sports in 2006)
• It was the 15th time that Mark has featured in a 100 partnership for the Badgers (one behind Alan Tickner’s record of 16)

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[A full match report should appear here in due course, since Chris Turner was given the job of writing one and will hopefully do a more timely job than Graham, Rako or Matt have managed – although nothing thus far, at nearly two month’s remove, and Patrick has put them all to shame]

Summary: You would probably have to go back to a one-off game against Egham in September 1994 since the Badgers were on the receiving end of such a battering in the field (last year’s Blindley Heath match came close but the small ground and a lack of bowling were mitigating factors) but the game started normally enough with Mark and Greggy operating well in harness and causing the batsmen problems. However, first change Allan Butt made the mistake of breaking the second wicket partnership and that brought the left-handed Foster to the crease who proceeded to batter the bowling to all quarters in the most brutal fashion. Despite only being at the wicket for roughly seven overs his 77 runs included eight sixes and totally turned the game on its head. When he fell to a fine catch by Pat on the long on boundary he had ruined the figures of both Allan and Chris Turner and he left the incumbent opener Stewart (80) and Jones (63 no.) to keep the scoreboard rolling along with some aggressive running between the wickets and the pair eventually accelerated comfortably before being parted with the score on 265 and the declaration followed three balls later after just forty overs had been bowled. A couple of early setbacks dogged the Badgers reply but Pat led the fightback ably assisted by Foxy (36) and the pair had added a third wicket partnership record of 152 when Pat ran himself out for what turned out to be 99. This precipitated a collapse from 158 for 2 to 188 for 9 before Greggy and Paul Wilson hung on for the draw.

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[A full match report should appear here in due course, since Matt Mann has taken on the task of writing one once the scorecard data has been posted]

Summary: The Badgers were asked to bat for the second week running and this week’s ‘council maintained’ recreation ground wicket was one of the slowest and lowest that I can ever recall playing a game of cricket on. Fortunately Mark was prompted to let Pat have a crack at opening the innings for the first time this season and his technique and patience were the foundation on which the Badgers posted a more than decent total. When Pat was out in the 33rd over he had contributed 65 to the Badgers total of 118 to that point, with an increasingly frustrated Steve Pitts (50) sharing the previous 23 overs and 85 runs. The lower middle order came and went but between them dragged the score to 192 when Mark declared an over or two later than the home side felt was reasonable. However, they proved unable to cope with Chris Turner’s combination of slow medium pace and late in-duck either missing straight ones or dollying up catches on the rare occasions that he dropped short and Chris recorded his second five-fer in only his third game for the club. Methodists skipper Mark Johnson fell to a stunning one-handed catch by his namesake, skulking in his usual spot at short cover, off a strangely out-of-kilter Allan Butt and Graham Davenport (3-8) accounted for most of the tail as the home side slumped to 76 all out with nearly a dozen overs still to be bowled.

(You might also care to check out Epsom Methodist’s take on the match)

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[This report courtesy of Simon Fox]

After what has seemed like weeks of relentless rain, it was great to find the gods on our side for our annual sortie to Leigh. The weather was dry but sultry, and the pitch a typical early season plodder, albeit beautifully cut by Leigh’s proudly exhibited new mower.

The captain lost the toss and was asked to bat – a situation that rendered him somewhat confused, not being accustomed to making decisions on the batting order before tea. This situation fortunately resolved itself when Allan Butt declared he had previously opened at this venue and Graham Ward spoke sartorially on the subject of correct underwear required for batting. The opening foray was bright enough but sadly lasted only a couple of overs before Graham was bowled by an unplayable delivery, this observation of his – doubted by some – in due course corroborated by both umpire and keeper, apparently without any monies changing hands. This brought to the wicket your chronicler for this report, Simon Fox, who went on to labour for all of 38 overs, finally ending up with 53, scored almost entirely in singles. Not a pretty sight, I am sure; I’m just glad I didn’t have to watch!

Allan continued to play properly for twelve whole overs, a feat he proudly announced was his longest such achievement for many a year, but finally temptation got the better of him, as he attempted an almighty ya-hoo at a perfectly decent straight ball and was bowled for 12. Ian Gregg, promoted up the order to number four on the strength of his exemplary batting the previous week (all one ball of it), hit a dashing 28, causing bowlers and fielders much agonising as he smote their best deliveries to far corners with utter disrespect before eventually being caught on the boundary. Paul Little entered and continued in like vein, not bothering with the niceties of playing himself in or assessing the wicket. He was undone for 14, caught and bowled by Leigh’s pie-chucker, who was in fact merely doing what he had to in order to avoid being gelded by a lusty return drive.

Next came the captain, who for a while caught singles-itis from his above-mentioned partner, as over and over went by with a regulation three singles. At this stage a score of 150 was looking favourite, but eventually Mark’s innate juices took over and net practice paid off, as he took 16 from one over and accelerated the score towards 200. However, he was cut off in his prime for 38, a good catch off a skier. The remaining overs were unspectacular, not many runs and the loss of Simon’s and Steve Pitts’ wickets. All in all, 172 for 7 which we thought might just about be enough.

We hadn’t reckoned however on an excellent tea and the effect this would have on our efforts in the field. So we took to the field:

1. Weighed down by quality tea – some more than others let it be noted
2. With three groin strains – including our fearsome opening attack
3. And two back-aches
4. And one sexagenarian
5. And one girl – of whom, I’d stress to add, no complaints – thank you Jacqueline for volunteering to play and helping us out of our little predicament

So we opened with Graham Davenport, unsuccessfully attempting to complete a hat-trick started at Dormansland, and Darrell Pitts. This however turned out to be a cunning strategy as Darrell opened his spell with a juicy leg-side full-toss which the Leigh opener gleefully hit straight into the hands of Ben Valentine at square leg, taking his first catch for the club with nonchalance. Two balls later, when their number three hit a sitter to Mark at short cover, they were 5 for 2 and in some disarray. After some considerable time another batman emerged and normality began to prevail. These two steadied the ship and moved the score along until Graham Ward entered the attack, whereupon Leigh’s Dudley plonked it straight into the hands of Paul Little at long-on and not so long after Graham had his sweet revenge with his own unplayable flipper that bowled opener Adams all ends up.

New batsman Letts took up the challenge, playing himself in and then accelerating to a well made 76, taking Leigh to within 20 runs before he was run out in an athletic Badgers triple-play involving Allan, Steve and finally Graham, doing the business at the non-striker’s end. Mark and Ian came on for the last ten overs for the close out, but a few lofty blows from Leigh’s skipper put paid to that, reaching the target for the loss of six wickets with eleven balls to spare. Allan contributed nine accurate and economical overs in mid-innings without success, and Graham Ward (2-65) deserved better than the scorebook alleged. Darrell recorded the best figures of 2-19 from six overs.

All in all, a good close game in which luck didn’t break for us. We held all of our chances, but the ball dropped into empty space twice as often. A jovial après-cri followed proceedings, during which – as usual – Steve robbed me of about 5 runs. Thence to bed, with aches and pains in every crevice, a just desert for two hours of batting à la Boycott.

[Editor’s notes: there are a few deliberate minor inaccuracies in the above report that I’ve left in for comic effect. However, for those that weren’t there I should point out that Mark’s ‘sitter’ was a typical two-handed diving effort off a full-blooded shot that left the batsman with his mouth hanging open, that Simon’s own efforts deserve more credit than his modesty allows, that only two-thirds of his scoring shots were singles, and that it was two runs not five that I deprived him of, but it is hardly my fault if other people can’t even add up a simple sequence of numbers between one and four – although to be fair to whoever added the score up originally it wasn’t easy avoiding going boss-eyed tallying the sequences of ones!?]

View the scorecard of this game

I’ve often whinged about the Badgers playing limited overs matches and this game was a perfect illustration of why I prefer timed games. One team got a few more overs than the other, but that created an interesting balance between bat and ball that the Badgers came quite close to overcoming. More importantly, as a non-combatant Nick Hellier observed in conversation at the scorer’s table, if we had been playing limited overs the last few overs would have been played with seven men on the boundary whereas Dormansland, because they were trying to win the game by bowling us out, kept a far more balanced field and thus made the game much more interesting for players and spectators alike.

The day started unpromisingly on the weather front but we were lucky enough to be able to play the whole game uninterrupted in the end. Skipper Mark Gordon won the toss so the Badgers found themselves in the field and it was Mark himself who got the game off to the best possible start inducing an edge with his very first delivery which Patrick Redding was alert enough to snaffle after keeper Steve Pitts, surprised by the pace of the pitch, had failed to hold on to it. There then followed an absorbing passage of play featuring an epic battle between opener Buzzing, who looked like he could bat a bit, and Mark (2-22) with his dander up, which included three consecutive maidens as the two locked horns.

In the end that battle was unresolved with Darrell Pitts (4-45), who had been keeping things tight at the other end in a completely different style to Mark, inducing the batsman to chip one to Graham Ward at midwicket. At that point Dormansland were 37 for 4 after sixteen overs and things did not get any better for them whilst Mark and Darrell were in harness as they found themselves six down for 61 eight overs later. At that point the game turned on its head with number five Musgrave (76) gradually increasing in confidence and granted a couple of lives thanks to some sloppy fielding. Graham Ward, despite catching three others, was guilty of dropping a straightforward chance, John Larkin had obviously had a good night and had a few struggles at mid on as well as dropping a sitter at point, Steve missed a simple enough stumping chance, whilst Ian Gregg was unlucky not to cling on to a diving attempt at slip and Paul Wilson seemed determined to break a bone or two with his attempts to stop the ball with his shins or ankles.

The seventh wicket pair added 66 runs to the total before Graham Davenport (3-42) clung on to a caught and bowled chance and Graham Ward finally ended Musgrave’s pivotal innings in the same manner. Dormansland skipper Jarret (18 no.) added a few lusty blows before the innings closed at 163 all out with Graham Davenport poised to bowl a hat trick ball the next time he bowls for the Badgers.

The Badgers got off to a slow start with neither opener contributing a great deal and just fourteen runs accruing over the first ten overs. Sadly the situation never really improved with an almost strokeless number four Paul Wilson piling the pressure on Patrick Redding (42) at the other end to provide all of the impetus. The last twenty started with exactly six an over needed and a frustrated Pat eventually holed out at deep mid on with thirteen overs left and 99 still needed to win.

A delightful cameo from Barry Davenport (32), which included two big sixes off Stuart Hellier (5-70) immediately after the ball had hit Barry’s stumps without dislodging the bails, at least meant that the run rate hovered around eight an over but that target proved too much even for Mark’s prodigious talents and the lower middle order perished in vain pursuit of the run chase with the Badgers eventually coming up twenty runs short with their ninth wicket falling from the last ball of the innings and Mark unbeaten on 38.

In the end an honourable draw, a good day all round, and the usual pleasant evening in the bar afterwards. I would like to end by pointing out that this was the fiftieth meeting between the two clubs – a fact that I wish I had checked before leaving home rather than after getting back – and that each club has won 17 of those games, with two others being unfinished due to the weather. Oh, and with my veteran’s hat on, it also worth mentioning that whilst Dormansland fielded a team with eight youngsters it was the three old boys who provided the majority of the runs and wickets to their cause, a fact which gladdened my heart :)

View the scorecard of this game

[A full match report should appear here in due course, since Rakesh has been given the job of writing one, but thus far I’ve not received anything despite Rako tapping away on his laptop at Tadworth]

Summary: Another solid bowling performance this week against new opponents on a baking hot day, with the two Grahams being particularly miserly especially in the context of a limited overs contest, although the fielding was extremely patchy despite Mark’s return to normal form. The batting was a vast improvement over last week, on a pitch playing like a midsummer strip rather than a typical May pudding and with the ball therefore coming on to the bat. The opening pair added 80, despite the trepidation of facing a twelve year old leggie, with Steve (51) making the lion’s share until being dismissed off a stray right boot. The second wicket pairing topped that, however, with young Larkin continuing to a largely untroubled 65 whilst an old Fox at the other end contributed 58 to their unbroken match-winning 110.

View the scorecard of this game

[A full match report may well appear here in due course, but there again it may not since no one seemed particularly interested in writing one for this debacle]

Summary: Some solid bowling, including Chris Turner’s first five-fer for the club and miserly contributions from Greggy, the skipper and Darrell (3-33), was marred by a poor catching performance – with Mark, almost unbelievably, having a horror of an afternoon and spilling (at least) three eminently catchable chances (well, catchable by Mark’s lofty standards) – and an even worse batting display. Only Richard Ward (21) showed the required nous or patience as the Badgers set off in pursuit of Broadbridge’s 168 for 9 and the rapid deterioration to a lowly 51 for 9 (all out) – the club’s worst score in over five seasons – was capped by a final over that featured a single, a four, a six and three wickets.

View the scorecard of this game

[This report courtesy of Graham Ward]

Having had a rather pleasant Easter it was somewhat of a surprise to find the dank weather for our first fixture of the season. Although that is somewhat generous, it actually felt like the middle of November. It was then a surprise that the rain stopped and the sun shone on the Badgers’ first April outing since we played in black and white (and I’m not talking about the club colours).

The skipper lost the toss and the Black Caps were inserted on a damp pitch. Steve Pitts and Graham Ward opened the batting and Steve was first to go, removed for 11. Next man in Barry Davenport departed after fielder Savory held on to a catch despite a mid pitch collision. One sandwich Pittsy was glad he had nothing to do with.

From there the engine room of the Badgers’ batting got going. The contrasting styles of the elegant, graceful, mercurial Ward and pugnacious explosiveness of Matt Mann (43) was there for all to see. Time and again Beechwood gave it everything but it took 110 runs for the partnership to be broken when Matt was stumped for his best ever score. Graham soon joined him back in the pavillion, also recording a personal best with 74 and unfortunately a major Badgers collapse was well under way. With no one able to stick around to help Patrick Redding (20 no.), the Badgers had fallen from 138 for two to 166 all out.

With Greggy getting a couple of early dismissals, Beechwood were very much on the back foot. Ian was supported by Darrell Pitts and Beechwood’s scoring remained low. On debut Chris Turner was intoduced into the attack and his variations of speed and length made it difficult for any of Beechwood’s batting to settle. His accuracy on a slow wicket was crucial and he finished with the excellent figures on 4 for 28 off nine overs and but for a dropped catch at the wicket would have had a Michelle (five-for). At seven down, Beechwood’s thoughts turned to defence, and they were successful in this regard as the Badgers were unable to get any further breakthroughs. Even Mark&rquo;s rarely seen leg spin was given an outing. It was a winning draw if ever there was one and a solid performance by the Black Caps on their reappearance.

Statistical note: Graham Davenport’s wicket in this game was his one hundredth for the club.

(You might also care to check out Beechwood’s page on the match which features a more comprehensive report along with scans of the scorebook pages and some photographs)